Air traffic congestion worldwide has increased significantly in recent years. The congestion often leads to air traffic inefficiencies, especially when weather along flight routes impacts normal flight schedules. These inefficiencies frequently include longer flight times and increased fuel consumption. Air traffic management personnel often make critical real-time decisions regarding whether to alter flight routes and schedule times based on weather events. The ability to predict the occurrence and location of convective weather events has proven to be particularly challenging.
High resolution precipitation forecasts have been employed to assist in air traffic management. For example, rapidly updated precipitation forecasts (e.g., forecasts issued in 5 to 6 minute intervals) extending out to two hours have been used. However, precipitation forecasts are not always adequate for determining available en route airspace. Significant precipitation sometimes occurs in regions where the cloud tops associated with the storms are moderately low (e.g., less than 30 kft). In such instances, reliance on a precipitation forecast alone can result in significant changes to flight routes to avoid the precipitation regions even though the associated cloud tops are sufficiently low for aircraft to safely fly above the weather.